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Salena H. ANTHRO 235 Global Feminist Art Professor Sasha Welland Artist: Thomas, Mickalene

GAP ANALYSIS

I chose to focus on the Mickalene Thomas, a contemporary African American artists, as her Wikipedia presence is limited and could be expanded especially an in-depth of her development through experimentation. I haven’t seen a formal interview where Thomas identifies herself as an actual feminist, only that she interested in examining and challenging ideas of femininity and beauty. According to Mickalene she identifies with woman-ism and refers repeatedly to Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, as being a part of feminism but on the outside. There is nothing about her early life, which gives context to her work as it reflects her identity and practice of art making. Her relationship with her mother is integral and helped shape her views of femininity and beauty and the ways in which she sees it, in addition to growing up in the 70’s and pop culture. Most of her major influences are noted at the beginning of the career section (it’s taken word for word from her website) but it’s doesn’t include the major influence Carrie Mae Weems had on her career as a contemporary Black female artists addressing issues of identity, beauty, race, sexuality and gender. This was fundamental to her as an artist and the work that she’s producing. Without addressing Weems effects on Mickalene’s work it’s difficult to understand the reflexivity and performativity of her work and the fact that she self-identifies with the images that she makes, she not only “romanticizing ideas of femininity and power,” she also views them in the subjects that she chooses and recreates. An in-depth chronology of her work would be useful to highlight her development and experimentation with different mediums, as well as her relationship to the models she chooses and how she sees herself through these women. She discusses this relationship in the following interviews, it’s also addressed in the following journal examining her work in the context of the post-black art movement , highlighting young African American artists who challenge contemporary notions of blackness following the black arts movement and the civil rights era.

EDITED CONTENT

Mickalene Thomas (born 1971), is a contemporary African American artist best known for her complex paintings made of rhinestones, acrylic and enamel. Her work draws from Western art history, pop art and visual culture to examine ideas around femininity, beauty, race, sexuality and gender.

Early Life

Mickalene Thomas was born in Camden, New Jersey in 1971, and raised by her mother “Mama Bush,” who exposed Mickalene and her brother to art by enrolling them in after-school programs at the Newark Museum, and the Henry Street Settlement in New York. As a teenager Mickalene and her mother had a very intimate and strenuous relationship due to her parents addiction to drugs and Thomas dealing with her sexuality, which she documented in the short film “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman: A Portrait of My Mother,” the stress of her environment lead Thomas to Portland, Oregon where she attended college.

Career

Thomas lived and attended school in Portland, Oregon from the mid-80’s to the early 90’s studying Pre-law and Theater Arts. Throughout this time she found herself immersed in the growing culture of DIY artists and musicians leading her to start her own body of work. Most influential to her was Carrie Mae Weems show at the Portland Art Museum in 1994, showcasing a small retrospective of her photography, specifically photos from her Kitchen Table, and Ain’t Jokin series. In an interview with the Brooklyn Museum of Arts, Thomas described this experience with Weems’ work as “familiar” and “transformative,” as it addressed for her, questions about her own identity, sexuality, blackness and the dominant culture. Weems’ work not only played a role in Mickalene Thomas’ decision to switch studies and apply to Pratt Institute in New York, but to use her experience and turn it into art.

Thomas would receive her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2000, and complete her MFA at the Yale School of Arts in 2002.

  Works Cited

"In the Artist's Studio: An Interview with Mickalene Thomas." Interview by Alexander Benrimon. Artnet News. Artnet Magazine, 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 May 2015. <https://news.artnet.com/art-world/in-the-artists-studio-an-interview-with-mickalene-thomas-52429>.

Landers, Sean. "Mickalene Thomas." Bomb- Artists in Conversation. BOMB Magazine, Summer 2011. Web. 14 May 2015.

Murray, Derek Conrad. "Mickalene Thomas: Afro-Kitsch and the Queering of Blackness." American Art 28.1 (2014): 9-15. JSTOR. Web. 15 May 2015.

Museum, Brooklyn. "In Conversation: Mickalene Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 May 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qti-R2YqKnw>.

Rosenberg, Karen. "Mickalene Thomas Rediscovers Her Mother — and Her Muse." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 May 2015.